I will never apologize for saying that the future of humanity and the future of the world is going to be defined by what we have in common as opposed to those things that separate us and ultimately lead us into conflict.

As a student of history, I also know civilization's debt to Islam.

How you staff, particularly the chief of staff, the national security adviser, your White House counsel, how you set up a process in the system to surface information and generate options for a president, understanding that ultimately the president is going to be the final decision-maker. That's something that has to be attended to right away.

I do think that I have a better sense of how military action can result in unintended consequences.

There's nothing that America can't handle if we actually look squarely at the problem. ...Change depends on our actions.

My central focus is what are we doing to protect the American people and the American homeland? Afghanistan and Pakistan are critical elements in that process.

I think we have two conflicting traditions in this country. I think it's important for us to recognize that we've got a tradition of handgun ownership and gun ownership generally. And a lot of people - law-abiding citizens use if for hunting, for sportsmanship, and for protecting their families. We also have a violence on the streets that is the result of illegal handgun usage. And so I think there is nothing wrong with a community saying we are going to take those illegal handguns off the streets.